From tuition news to a crackdown on unpaid work, there was finally some good news for millennials

For what feels like the first time in a long time, young Canadians facing the perils of mounting debt and precarious employment got a pat on the back from three provincial governments this week.

The government of Nova Scotia announced on Friday they’re eliminating interest on provincial student loans. Advanced Education Minister Kelly Regan said the average loan for Nova Scotia students in $5,600, which would mean a savings of about $800. A modest savings compared to the principle amount surely, but at least debt won’t grow as graduates chip away at their total.

The government said 18,000 borrowers and 14,000 students who haven’t started paying their loans back will benefit from the move. The hope is that students will have an easier time looking for work in the province rather than seeking higher salaries in other parts of the country to tackle their debt.

Nova Scotia had the third-highest average tuition fees in Canada in 2013-14 for full-time undergraduate students at $6,185, a 3.5 per cent increase from 2012-13. The only provinces with higher average fees was Ontario at $7,259 and Saskatchewan at $6,294, according to Statistics Canada.

Newfoundland and Labrador boasts the lowest average fees in the country, at $2,644 for 2013-14. That’s because the province froze tuition fees in 1999 and then went even further and phased in a 25 per cent cut.

If that wasn’t attractive enough, the province’s new budget has even more treats for broke students. Tabled on Thursday, the budget includes a plan to convert provincial student loans into grants. In other words: free money.

As The Telegram explains, student loans are funded both by the province and the federal student loan program. The plan is to increase the amount of the provincial portion that comes from loans and to have it completely replaced by grants by Aug. 1, 2015. That means thousands of dollars in savings for those who qualify.

@GovNL Thanking the Government of Newfoundland for turning all provincial loans into grants. Makes being a student easier and less stressful

In Ontario, the government has cracked down on an “employment” practice that has plagued fields like media, unchecked, for years: unpaid internships.

The trend of late has been for companies to offer unpaid internships, often for months at a time with full-time hours, as they eliminate what were once entry-level positions. It shouldn’t need to be said, but not paying employees a minimum wage, regardless of whether they’re called “interns,” is against the law.

Unpaid internships are illegal under Ontario law unless the student is earning a school credit for the placement and “the employer derives little, if any, benefit from the activity of the intern while he or she is being trained, among other rules.

Having an intern do what should really be called a job for no pay has always been illegal, but on Thursday the Labour Ministry shut down the practice at Toronto Life and The Walrus magazines. Both publications let interns go in the crackdown (you know, rather than pay them) and the ministry warned more compliance orders were to come for other publications and industries.

So raise your can of bottom-shelf beer, millennials, because this week didn’t totally suck.